Professor Webber’s 30-Odd Year Love Affair with the Marine Environment

Service to one’s country is one of the highest forms of patriotism.

For marine biologist and ecologist Professor Mona Kay Webber, who has dedicated over 30 years to preserving the marine and coastal environment, she is driven by a deep love for the land of wood and water.

Over the years, Professor Webber, who is Director for the Centre of Marine Sciences in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus, has done significant work to reduce the devastating impact of pollution on Jamaica’s mangroves and coastal resources.

She has conducted studies on mangrove habitats, including an assessment of their biodiversity and the evaluation and development of appropriate water-quality indices.

She has studied the levels of the contamination of Kingston Harbour by heavy metals and microplastics and its impact on oysters in the Port Royal mangroves.

She tells JIS News that she has no plans to stop her work any time soon. “I don’t think this will ever end for me,” she says.

“When I retire in less than five years, I will do consultancies and any sort of private work to do with the environment. It’s what I know and what I love,” she tells JIS News.

Looking back, Professor Webber says her love affair with Jamaica’s coastal ecology began while she studied at UWI as an undergraduate student.

“We are exposed by the second year to the range of environments. We were taken to the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory to do marine ecology exposure. That’s when I decided this is where I want to be and what I want to do,” she says.

The Kingstonian, who attended Ardenne High School, tells JIS News that she finds the greatest motivation in helping to mould the next generation of scientists.

She has supervised scores of graduate students and several undergraduate research projects.

The UWI Professor, along with her team of students, has carried out ecological assessments of the above- and below-ground biomass of the mangroves at Refuge Cay, Kingston and Lilliput, St. James.

They have compiled and documented information on the biodiversity associated with mangrove areas and the essential role that mangrove ecosystems play in protecting coastlines, especially during natural disasters, and their invaluable contribution to sustainable economic activities.

“I believe the most impactful part of my work has been touching the lives of young scientists, helping them to see the significance of what they do and helping them to see how they can make a meaningful contribution,” Professor Webber says.

“The problems [of the environment] aren’t easily solved. They need time and continuous attention. Long after we are gone, we still need people who come up with solutions,” she points out.

Professor Webber, who has spent most of her time in mangrove conservation and rehabilitation, tells JIS News that one of her first projects as a young scientist was called ‘The mangrove ecosystem – a biodiversity hotspot’.

“It focused on moving the research we had in journal articles out into the public, so we created a biodiversity display at the marine lab, with posters and material to disseminate on the importance of mangroves to a wider audience,” she notes.

“We had to find ways [to raise awareness] at all levels. So yes, [we targeted] the communities that were beside the mangroves but also the developers who want to use the land to do other things such as coastal development,” she points out.

Professor Webber, who has also done extensive work in coral reef restoration, tells JIS News that a key part of her efforts is showing how investing in the preservation of natural capital can save businesses money.

“It’s a matter of economics. We had to communicate the value in terms of dollars and cents. It was a bit of a challenge for us, but it made us do more focused research on the economic value of mangroves or the economic value of a coral reef,” she notes. “This means communicating the ecosystem valuation, the amount of tourist dollars in value that you can get if you have a healthy coral reef, or the infrastructure that a mangrove forest protects if there is a storm,” she points out.

Professor Webber’s research findings have been made available to other scientists in more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and 22 conference presentations as well as 19 technical reports to governmental and non-governmental organisations.

For her body of work in contributing to preserving and protecting the marine and coastal environment of Jamaica, she was presented with the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Commander (CD) at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony on October 17.

“This was totally unexpected,” Professor Webber tells JIS News.

“It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did a little, that the Government would think to award a National Honour for environmental work.

“We [environmentalists] are often perceived to be holding back economic development, but what we are really trying to do is have development done in a sustainable way to conserve the environment upon which we all depend,” she says.